What is DACA and How Does It Affect Indian-Americans?

According to estimates, Indians may be the second-largest population of undocumented immigrants in the US.

"The rate of utilisation of DACA by Indian citizens who are eligible was actually quite low as compared to many other nationalities", Tejas Shah, US Immigration Attorney told The Quint.

(Photo: Shruti Mathur/The Quint)

Video Editor: Deepthi Ramdas

"DACA is a band-aid. It was a band-aid when it was announced in 2012 by Obama. The only thing DACA does right now is, it stops the possibility of deportation for two years at a time," Chirayu Patel, an Indian-American DACA beneficiary told The Quint.

Instated by the Obama Administration, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) shields deportation for some undocumented people who were brought to the United States by their parents when they were children.

Among Trump's crackdown on US Immigration policies, the DACA program has been a relentless target. In the past four years, there has been significant back and forth legislation with the Trump Administration attempting to end the DACA program.

"A lot of us thought when Trump was stepping into office that the DACA program was done," Tejas Shah, a US Immigration attorney told The Quint.

Earlier in November 2020, a Federal Judge in New York city ruled the Department of Homeland Security's suspension of DACA invalid and unlawful, sparking some hope among present and expectant DACA beneficiaries.

What exactly is DACA, then? And how does it affect undocumented Indian-Americans?

Watch The Quint's interview to know how the program may benefit millions of undocumented immigrants, what it has in common with The Beatles, and what we should expect under the Biden-Harris Administration.